So far in this series we’ve done a lot of talking about indie books and self-publishing: how to find review sites and what to consider if you want to become an indie author yourself. Now It’s your turn to do the talking?with the broader indie community, that is. For readers and writers alike there’s nothing like coming together and debating Mr. Darcy’s merits or whether James Patterson has irrevocably lost the plot. And with indie books creating so much buzz, the literary conversation’s really heating up. In this final part of the series, join the tour as we drop in on the chat.
If You’re looking for the most popular party on the block, you’ll want to check out Goodreads. It’s a thriving community of book lovers, and there’s plenty of talk about indies. You can get book recommendations from people you know, form a book club, answer book trivia, collect quotations from your favourite reads, track your reading, and more. Authors join the conversation as well, and the site boasts ?more than 5,000,000 members and 150,000,000 books added to member profiles.?
It sounds wonderful, and millions of fans love the site, but there’s one caution: all that complexity can be confusing. Take your time exploring?and don’t feel like you have to fill out every detail at once.
If you’d rather keep things simple (spending more time chatting than managing virtual bookshelves), it shouldn’t take long to find a book community that suits your style.
One such site is MobileRead. The focus is on digital reading, and the clean, simple design and good organization make it easy to get started. Type ?indie? in the search box and you’ll find plenty of links to discussions about favourite self-published authors, free indie reads, and more. And if you need advice on e-books, formats, reading devices, audiobooks, conversion software or . . . well, just about anything related to e-reading, click the Wiki link at the top of the homepage.
If you love indies but have avoided the Kindle boards because you don’t own a sleek new DX, you might be surprised to find a lot of crossover. Not only do members share their latest KDP finds, but there’s plenty of discussion about indie titles in general, including those in other formats. 
Again, just type ?indie? in the search bar and find a conversation that looks intriguing.
Another active forum is The Indie Spot, billed as ?a place for readers to connect with authors.? Along with a book club thread you’ll find a Lending Forum, a Deal Spot, general book intros, and a forum for chatting with authors. I haven’t delved into the forums yet, but from the FAQ post it looks like the moderators take things like spammers and privacy seriously?something to look for if You’re new to online discussions.
Last but definitely not least, I recently stumbled across Between the Lines, ?a book club where exceptional authors and voracious readers meet.? As the site explains, all books selected are ?written by exceptional independent and small press authors.? The best thing? Members meet to discuss the book of the month at a scheduled online audio/web conference?and at the end of the meeting, the author joins in to answer readers? questions!
With warm weather and lazy days at the cottage arriving soon, beach bags and e-readers will be stuffed with summer reading. So join the indie conversation, share some of your favourite new authors, and discover what other readers have to say. Just make sure you leave lots of time for reading itself!